Safety-pin.



PATENTBD JULY 16, 1907.

H. M. FETTERS.

SAFETY PIN.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 9. 1906.

Inventor Witnesses:

S MM. Attorney run NORRIS PETERS cm, WASHINDTON. n. c.

following description taken in connection with the acment must be first flexed laterally to permit the pin to UNITED STATES PATENT oEEIoE.

HENRY MILTON FETTERS, OF LAPORTE, INDlANA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO EDWARD NICHOLAS SCHAFER, OF LAPORTE, INDIANA.

SAFETY-PIN.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 16, 1907.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY MILTON FE'rrERs, a citizen of the United States, residing at Laporte, Laporte county, Indiana, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Safety-Pins, of which the following is a specification.

This invention will be readily understood from the companying drawing in which:

Figure 1 is a side view and Fig. 2 a transverse section at A, Fig. 1 of a safety pin embodying an exemplification of my invention.

In certain uses of safety pins it is desired that they serve in attaching a tag to fabrics as, for instance, in tagging fabrics in the laundry or in pricing or grading dry goods in stores. In such use of safety pins it has been customary to provide them with flexibly connected tags of one kind or another, these tags being often of metal. The tags, being at liberty to swing to various projecting positions, are at all times liable to catch into and injure fabrics especially if the fabrics are going through the laundry operations.

In my improved safety pin I arrange the pin to carry a metallic tag but in such manner and position that the tag will not harm fabrics and will always be rigidly positioned, relative to the pin, so that it is readily readable. The tag-structure carried by my pin has peculiar merit in the absence of any tagging performance for the reason that it enhances the safety quality of the pin or, in other words, decreases the liability of accidental detachment of the pin from the fabric to which it may be attached.

The invention may be said to consist of a tag or tag fastening comprising a back-bar 2, a pin bar 1 flexibly united thereto, a clasp, housing or guard 4 connected to the back-bar, and a tag-piece 6 united to the backbar and having an inner abutment located adjacent to and centrally of the guard or clasp. This abutment normally lies within the line of movement of pin 1 when thepin is depressed to remove it from the housing and the distance between the abutment and the guard is less than the radius of the pin. Therefore to remove the, pin from the guard or housing the abut;

pass the upper edge of the abutment.

In the drawing :1, indicates the pin proper: 2, the back-bar of the pin: 3, the heel coil uniting the pin to the back-bar: and 4, the clasp carried by the free end of the back-ba-r and serving to receive the point of the pin.

All of the parts thus far referred to may be of usual well known construction, and subject to the usual modifications in the construction of those parts.

In the drawing the clasp part 4- is illustrated as being of the usual sheet metal formation, the clasp having a tubular portion 5 firmly secured to the outer portion of the back-bar.

In the present invention a flat tag 6 is secured rigidly to the back-bar and projects inwardly toward the pin proper, and this flat tag is shown as being formed by inward projection of the sheet metal forming the tubular portion of the clasp, the securing of the clasp to the back-bar thus serving at once to rigidly secure the tag to the back-bar. The tag lies in the general plane of the pin-bar and back-bar and its edge contiguous to the pin-bar is so near the latter that when an attempt is made to disengage the point of the pin from the clasp the pin-bar will strike the edge of the tag and refuse to be released until the tag, which is somewhat flexible sidewise, is pressed a trifle to the side, thus permitting the pin'bar to be moved inwardly far enough to become released from the clasp. The tag therefore furnishes an extra safeguard against the accidental releasing of the pin point from the clasp. The tag is shown as bearing certain designating numbers which may be considered, for instance, as laundry marks, these numbers being stamped into or otherwise placed upon one or both sides of the tag. While the tag is flexible enough to be sprung a trifle sidewise in releasing the pin it is normally held rigidly in the common plane of the general pin structure and is therefore incapable of swinging around into any position where it may catch into and injure fabrics and, furthermore, its rigid positioning permits its designations to be readily inspected without the necessity for first adjusting the tag relative to the pin. In other words, the pin structure furnishes a rigid handle for the tag.

In practice these pins are made in various sizes and of various proportions to suit the particular use for which they are intended.

I claim A tag fastening, comprising a hack-bar, a pin bar flexibly united to said hack-bar, a housing or guard connected to said back-bar and inclosing theend of the pill bar, and a tag piece united to said back-bar having an inner abutment located adjacent to and centrally oi the housing or guard, the distance between said abutment and guard being less than the radius of the pin so that the abutment must he flexed laterally before the pin can he removed from the guard.

Witnesses WM. E. IImorNs, DAVID II. McGILL. 

